They came from Ohio, New York, Rhode Island and Boston. They live in the United States, but their roots are in Russia and Ukraine. They are avid fans of biathlon but had never seen competitions live. Read More

As the volunteer event director for the 2016 World Cup Biathlon to be held at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle in February, Jane Towle fielded a lot of questions when she traveled to Oslo, Norway, in October to meet with her counterparts from other host countries… Read More

KATHRYN OLMSTEAD: Phone calls, emails and online comments about the article unearthed a variety of topics, from Nike missiles to sightings of unidentified aircraft and recollections of men who loaded weapons onto bombers. Read More

So, I am sitting on the back deck of the ferryboat Thomas Laighton on Sept. 18 en route from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Star Island, one of the nine Isles of Shoals between Maine and New Hampshire, for a weekend of contradancing. The ferry also carries a group… Read More

More than 25 years have passed since children at Katahdin Elementary School in Stacyville were released from classes to pick potatoes, but every year, fourth-graders at the school still get a taste of a traditional harvest. “Some of the children have never walked in a potato… Read More

It has been said if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. While Paul Cyr of Presque Isle has a number of jobs that could be called work, it is his love of photography that frames his daily routine and defines his… Read More

When members of the Colby College Class of 1965 gathered in Waterville for their 50th reunion celebration in June, they received a special gift from one of their classmates. Houlton native Barbara McGillicuddy Bolton of Brooklyn, New York, presented her class a novel dedicated “To the… Read More

It is 7 p.m. at the National Weather Service office on North Main Street in Caribou — time to launch the weather balloon. Two volunteers step out of a group of a dozen women gathered outside the building’s back entrance to assist National Weather Service staff… Read More

“First he was a skier.” So began remembrances of an Aroostook County sport legend at a memorial service in New Sweden on July 9. Children and grandchildren of Ralph L. Ostlund, who died July 2 at age 92, expressed the thoughts and feelings of… Read More

Who would guess that college students in a small village at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania would be able to benefit from the library resources of the University of Maine at Presque Isle? It happened, and an innovative online course connecting two universities —… Read More

I had just packed the last load of stuff into the car before a 10-day trip near the end of April when the phone rang. “Are you the lady who writes for the newspaper?” the caller asked. Our chat was animated, but brief, full… Read More

Former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau once said that living next to the United States is like sleeping with an elephant. Fort Kent native Lisa Lavoie, after completing a master’s thesis on her borderland community, concluded that the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, woke… Read More

Oh, no! After reading my last column on grammar and usage, a dear friend said she worried about speaking correctly in my presence. I love language, but not at the expense of friendship. I might be a language nerd, but I hope I’m not a language snob. And… Read More

Every time I ski on the beautifully groomed trails in Limestone, I tell myself to write a thank you to Norman Page, who maintains the trails at Trafton Lake and at the Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge, on the former Loring Air Force Base. I call him my personal… Read More